The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. Originally intended for New York City progressives, its readership is now national. For anyone who wants to be alerted by email whenever this newsletter is updated (usually weekly), please send your email address and let me know what state you live in (so I can keep track of my readership).

Friday, July 16, 2010

Progressive Democrat Newsletter Issue 266

After last week's push to get green energy info on the states I cover to my readers, I am going back to a somewhat lazier approach of writing less and linking more. I'd rather do that than take too long of a break from blogging, but it has been harder to keep up with the newsletter these days. I am hoping things calm down and I can go back to writing more, but if nothing else I can keep highlighting good information, news and links for you all. Let me know if you like this format better or if you prefer I go back to writing more. One of the main things I have dropped for now is updating events sections for local areas since it was time consuming and I am not sure how many people were going to those events. Instead I have left the link to the websites where I found the events and am letting people click through to the source. Same with updating extensive news links in the local sections. Instead I am leaving the links to blogs and only highlighting a handful of key stories. Again, let me know what approach you like better.

Daily Kos had a recent article reviewing the basics of global warming that is worth a read. The time when this should be necessary is long past...and yet we still have global warming deniers with right wing agendas who make it necessary for people to write things like this: Intro to Basic Science of Global Warming

Turning to marriage equality, this week Argentina joined the nations who have shown themselves more enlightened and egalitarian than the United States when it approved same-sex marriages. Currently the nations that have legalized same-sex marriage are: Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland and Argentina. Meanwhile, the United States maintains a backward attitude towards homosexuality that is reminiscent of most of Africa and the Middle East. Personally, I don't see why the US is so reluctant to emulate the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Iceland! I should note, interestingly enough, these nations, all of which are capitalist democracies with generally strong economies, also have forms of socialized medicine that provide far better healthcare than we get in the US at a cheaper price. I do not get why American conservatives want America to be a backwards nation.

Court slaps down BloomKlein on school closings...I cannot understand how Bloomberg thinks closing schools will solve any problems. All it will do is make the remaining schools even MORE over crowded. It makes as little sense as closing hospitals, which does nothing but overburden the surviving hospitals, driving them under.